pro-life Archives

Of Abortion and Abolition

February 12, 2023February 12, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

I discovered a bizarre fringe wing of anti-abortion Christian Nationalists this week. Abortion “abolitionists.”

Book Review: Wrath of Angels by James Risen and Judy Thomas

July 31, 2022July 30, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

In the last month, we have heard countless Republicans and anti-abortion advocates trying to use the recent uptick in vandalism against crisis pregnancy centers as proof that the pro-abortion side is the side of violence. James Risen and Judy Thomas’s 1998 book Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War blows that entire argument out of the water.

3 Erroneous Anti-Roe Arguments from the Latest Congressional Hearings

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

I couldn’t begin to tell you why I did this, but I spent 11 hours this week watching the live streams of the US House and Senate’s discussions of the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I thought I’d at least make it not a complete waste of time by turning it into a blog post.

How Crisis Pregnancy Centers Lie to You for Free

July 10, 2022September 4, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

Anti-abortion activists have a wealth of tools in their belt beyond just Bibles and money. One of their greatest tools is faux compassion, a practice that gestates at their notoriously grimy crisis pregnancy centers. These centers lure in people seeking abortions only to try and persuade them into carrying their pregnancies to term.

On Being Pro-Choice, Pro-Abortion, and Pro-Reproductive Justice

May 1, 2022July 2, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

For years I have proudly identified as a pro-choice feminist. As Roe v. Wade is effectively being overturned state-by-state, I’ve begun to educate myself more on the history of abortion while I’ve become more outspoken in defense of women’s rights. Ironically, it has been this journey that has made me begin to question whether pro-choice is the right identity for me.

Why the March for Life is Not Pro-Life

January 23, 2022January 23, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

This has been a big week in the world of women’s rights. Not only is January 22nd the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade but the 20th was the annual March for Life. Unfortunately neither of these days give pro-choice advocates much to celebrate. It’s great that women have been protected by Roe for 49 years, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing that 50-year anniversary. And the March for Life is cringey at best and a spine-chillingly ominous march of bigots at worst.

The Abortion Essay of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

January 16, 2022January 16, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

On April 22nd, 1990, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan published an article for Parade Magazine called “The Question of Abortion: A Search for Answers.” The essay lives on today as the chapter “Abortion: Is It Possible to Be Both ‘Pro-Life’ and ‘Pro-Choice’?” from Sagan’s last book Billions and Billions. You can read the essay here or listen to it here. I have yet to read the entire book, but I was intrigued by this chance to get Sagan’s and Druyan’s take on abortion, which is a topic I’m becoming increasingly passionate about.

Book Review: Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt

September 19, 2021January 17, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

The day after publishing this post, I feel I must add a small caveat. I’ve realized since reading the book and writing this review that Katha Pollitt is opposed to the usage of gender-inclusionary language surrounding abortion. While she did not use gender-inclusionary language in the book, I tried my best to use it in my review when I could. Pollitt goes further into her justification for this in this article, but I urge you to read this response article by physician Cheryl Chastine explaining why Pollitt is not justified in excluding non-cisgender people from her abortion arguments. Chastine did an amazing job. In giving cisgender women the right to bodily autonomy, we do not need to be erasing people with diverse gender identities from claiming that same right.

After owning the book for over two years, this week I finally stopped procrastinating reading Katha Pollitt’s 2014 persuasive powerhouse of a book Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights. Ironically, my timing had nothing to do with the recent “heartbeat bill” in Texas, but the urgency that the bill caused definitely lit a fire under me to enthusiastically jump into the book. If you want the context around the pro-choice argument, then I can’t recommend Pro enough.

The Case for Legal Abortion

September 27, 2020October 4, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

I’d like to start this post off by asking that you read it in its entirety before commenting or passing judgment.

Now that that’s out of the way: This post is not going to be about the morality of actually getting an abortion. I personally believe in a woman’s right to choose what is best for her, her body, and her family. I’ve written a post before that only broke the ice on why I am pro-choice, and my sources there go into way more depth. That’s why I will just refer you to those (here, here, and here) instead of repeating their points either in this post or my last.

My First Time Responding to a “Pro-Life” Christian

June 9, 2019January 18, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

This is one of those weeks when I spent days waffling back and forth about what to write about come Saturday. I had considered writing a response to some anti-abortion videos I saw about a month ago, but I had no idea how to go about it. I am not too well-versed within the abortion debate, so I didn’t know if it would be worth trying to put my thoughts on it together in a blog post. But as I was re-watching these videos from Christian YouTuber Becca Eller, I saw that she, too, had been nervous to talk about abortion but decided to give it a try anyway. So I’m giving my response to her videos a try too.